


Time is a Funny Thing

by Musetotheworld



Series: Tumblr Prompt Fills [5]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, I kill Cat again but this time I actually fix it, Kara saves the day, Technically major character death but only for a few minutes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2017-01-18
Packaged: 2018-09-18 07:26:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9374369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musetotheworld/pseuds/Musetotheworld
Summary: Actions are irreversible, mistakes are forever. Or are they?Kara doesn't act in time, but the outcome of her failing is one she refuses to let stand.





	

Moving in slow motion is not a sensation Kara is familiar with, not when she has the ability to move faster than sound with little more than a thought.

But as she hears a shot ring out across the room from where she's busy fighting off a set of would be attackers who seem determined to kill her boss, Kara learns exactly what it feels like.

Her head turns, agonizingly slowly, and she's just in time to see Cat fall to the ground, the look of shock on her face more painful than any Kryptonite wound. A scream that Kara barely recognizes as her own rings out, and in the space of a few seconds Kara has dealt with the opponents she’d been trying to beat without seriously injuring them, leaving four crumpled masses on the floor as she speeds across the room to Cat's side.

"No, no..." Kara mutters as she takes in the amount of blood seeping through Cat's shirt. It's too much, too fast, and even if she could get the woman to a hospital before she bled out, they wouldn't have time to save her. The shot is perfectly placed, Cat has a minute left at best.

"Kara..." Cat whispers, reaching up with one shaking hand, arm going limp before she can make contact with the tears already pouring down Kara's face. "I- 's okay, Kara." Her words are slurred, eyes unfocused, and Kara can't even begin to process that Cat has known her identity all along as her head lolls to the side in unconsciousness, heart slowing and stopping soon after.

Kara can feel bullets bouncing off her shoulders as she kneels holding Cat’s body but she doesn't care, doesn't react to the sensation at all. The shooter has already hurt her, already done the damage. She wishes the bullets could hurt her, wishes there were some way that the pain inside could be mirrored on the outside.

Even when she hears the NCPD or whoever is responding to the emergency call enter, she can't tear herself away from Cat's body to help. If she stays right here, refuses to acknowledge the world around her, then maybe this will all turn out to be just a bad dream. If she doesn't accept it, it never happened.

When Alex moves to take Cat's body from her, Kara has to fight down an instinctive urge to push her away. She isn't in control enough to keep her strength in check, and she knows it. But she can't let Alex take Cat from her either. If she does, then everything will become real.

The voice in the distance eventually clears into Alex's voice, and Kara realizes her sister has been talking for some time. "Kara, she's gone. You can't help her. You’ll be okay, but we need to get you out of here. She's gone, there's nothing more you can do. You tried, Kara." It's a soothing repetition that slowly pulls Kara out of the worst of the grief, enough so that she can breathe, can register the world around her once more.

It makes the pain that much clearer in contrast, and even with super strength she can't fight down the sobs that begin to wrack her body. A world without Cat seems empty already, and Kara doesn't know what's supposed to happen now. Everything has changed, and not in any way for the better.

"I don't know what to do, Alex," Kara sobs as she finally lets the agents take Cat's body from her, reluctantly letting go of the hold that she knows would have been too tight if Cat had still been alive.

"We go on," Alex says, reaching out carefully to put her hands on Kara's shoulders. It's clear she understands Kara isn't in control enough to return the embrace, but that's never stopped her from reaching out before and won't now. "We can't turn back time, we have to move forward."

She keeps talking, keeps trying to reassure Kara, but all the hero can think about is the fact that she can turn back time. She can go back and fix this. She can be fast enough, and good enough, and save the day. Save the woman who'd snuck into her heart, whose presence hadn't even been noticed until there was an absence in its place.

Kal-El had done it, once. He'd told her about it, warned her that it was reckless and foolhardy. He'd told her it so easily could have been a mistake, that he could have ended up ruining everything. And he'd stressed that she should never do it herself, that he was telling her only to avoid an accident in the future if she wasn't aware of what her actions could do.

But every warning he'd given pales in comparison to the thought that she could save Cat this way, that she could fix the mistake that had lured her from the woman's side for just long enough. Kal-El had saved Lois, he would just have to deal with her saving Cat.

"I can fix this," Kara cuts Alex off mid-reassurance, and her sister looks at her in confusion for a moment before realization sets in.

"It's dangerous," is all she says, recognizing Kara's determination and not even trying to talk her out of it. "You need to be very sure, and be very careful. And you need to go now if you're going to do this, before these events are set too firmly in time.”

"I love you," Kara says, finally feeling like she can pull Alex into a hug without hurting her, now that she has some control over the situation.

"I love you too," Alex returns instantly, returning the hug with a grip tight enough that Kara can feel it. "And you obviously love her, so promise me we'll talk about this once you've saved the day."

"I promise." And with that, Kara steps just far enough away to launch herself into the sky, heading towards the edge of space and the height she'll need to pull this off.

Clark’s voice is in her ear as she starts gaining speed, trying to warn her, but Kara has decided. "You saved Lois, I'm saving Cat," is all she says to him, but it seems to work and he falls silent, leaving her to focus on reaching the necessary speed and punching her way through time.

The calculations run through her mind in a continuous stream, using every bit of her Kryptonian intelligence to make sure she arrives at precisely the right moment, landing in front of Cat just in time to catch the bullet, sparing a quick glance across the room to see if past her is still fighting. She isn't entirely sure how time travel affects her presence on Earth.

But she seems to be the only Supergirl in the room, and Kara gives up on trying to understand in favor of taking out the shooter and the assailants she'd been fighting earlier, not bothering to hold back because they're human. She takes care not to kill them, tries to avoid broken bones, but other than that she's more interested in taking them out of commision and returning to Cat's side.

"Are you okay?" she asks as she scans the woman for injuries, trying not to reveal how affected she is by the sight of her. Cat doesn't know what had happened, and Kara doesn't want to scare her.

"Thanks to you, Supergirl," Cat says, heart racing but giving no outward sign of her panic. "I'll admit to wondering whether you'd be fast enough, but it seems I had no reason to fear."

Guilt stabs Kara, a dull ache spreading through her torso out from her heart, and she has to remind herself that she'd fixed it, that she'd found a way to keep Cat safe.

"Couldn't let you down, Miss Grant," she says rather than break down and confess how she'd failed, or potentially worse confess how she feels about the woman in front of her. She will later, whether it ruins things between them or not, but for now she has to remain aware of the press of civilians around them, more than one reporter among them. "Would you like a lift home? I think they'll be interviewing the drivers for a good while. They’ll want to talk to you as well, but I'll let the officers know they can find you later."

It's not protocol, and it's clear they both realize that as Cat fixes her with an intrigued and questioning look. "Very well then, Supergirl. I trust you won't drop me?"

"Never," Kara vows, memory of losing Cat still so fresh in her mind that she has to force the word past a lump in her throat. "I'll deliver you home safe and sound."

Cat's heart rate picks up again when Kara lifts into the sky, but Kara is careful to hold her close and secure, taking the trip slow. It's half out of a desire to stay pressed close enough to feel her heartbeat, but she can justify it by pretending it's about Cat's comfort.

"I wasn't aware you knew my address," Cat teases when they land on the balcony of her penthouse, falling into the easy teasing that's developed between them over Kara's identity. Now that Kara knows her secret is anything but, it even feels friendly, lighthearted. There's a new depth to the interaction.

"Of course I do," Kara says, voice serious instead of joining the banter, and Cat stills at the difference. "What kind of assistant would I be if I didn't?"

"Why now?" Cat asks as she digests the revelation, and Kara shrugs. "A shrug, Kara? You spill your greatest secret after months of hiding, and a shrug is all I get?" Cat's hands are on her hips as she stares Kara down, and it's so familiar and comforting that Kara finally smiles, for the first time since she'd turned in horror.

"You died," Kara admits, smile fading as she remembers. "I wasn't fast enough, and I didn't notice the fifth attacker. I got caught up fighting four, and he shot you."

Cat's face is blank with shock as she hears the news, one hand reaching up to press into her chest right over where the bullet had entered. It sends another wave of guilt through Kara, nearly sending the hero to her knees with the weight.

"Obviously something happened to save me," Cat says after long minutes of silent processing. "I'm here, so clearly I didn't die."

"I, um, I flew through time to save you," Kara admits, closing her eyes for a second to focus on the soothing sound of Cat's heartbeat.

"Well that sounds...useful," Cat says, trying for her usual snark but falling a bit short. "Is that something you do often?"

"No, and I don't know that I should have done it this time. It's dangerous." The words are true, what Kara knows she should be saying, but they ring hollow. She'd do it again, and again, and again, as many times as needed to keep Cat safe.

The older woman absorbs the news quietly, though from the way her fingers are drumming on her collarbone Kara knows she isn't as calm as she appears. Not that Kara can blame her, hearing you'd died and a superhero turned back time to save you would throw anyone.

"If it's dangerous, why do it?" Cat asks, taking a single step closer to where Kara is still standing against the railing. "I've seen Supergirl in anguish over not being able to save everyone before, but you didn’t change things then. It was just me this time, only one person, and yet you took this risk anyway. Why is that?"

"Because I can't lose you," Kara bursts out, unable to hold the admission in any longer. "I didn't realize it until I did, but I can't do it. I can't lose you, Cat. I- Rao, I don't even know- I don't have words for this, Cat. I don't."

The next thing Kara knows there are soft lips on her own, and finally she can breathe again, finally the sick feeling in her gut is gone because this is what she's needed. This is the reassurance that Cat is alive that leaves no doubt, because Kara could not have imagined the perfection of feeling Cat's body pressed against her while a searching tongue explores her mouth. She'd only just realized she loved Cat, there had been no imagining this, but even if she had Kara knows those dreams would pale in comparison.

"You didn't lose me, Kara, you saved me," Cat breathes against her lips when the kiss breaks.

And maybe they should slow down, take stock of the massive shift in their relationship, but Kara can't seem to step back, and Cat doesn't seem inclined to either. The shock of Kara seeing Cat die, the shock of Cat hearing that she'd died, right now they both need this connection, this affirmation that everything is okay.

So Kara banishes the last of her doubts and lifts Cat once more into strong arms, carrying her inside as their lips meet again, intent on proving again and again that Cat is alive.

And then maybe later, maybe much later, they'll actually get around to talking.


End file.
